Blade Runner 2049 Androids Dream

I'm a fan of the original Blade Runner as anyone else since having to study it for Film & Media years ago. But I'll come clean now in this review by saying that I was never a fan of whatever this turned out to be, except for the visuals. I still have the DVD lying in a box in the attic and quite honestly the disc only came out the case once, the only other time I can remember seeing this was in the cinema itself...So I think that could quite possibly explain why the Joi character is complete mystery to me? Anyway, I cannot remember her and that alone spoke volumes to me. So I thought if I can't remember her, I may as well watch it in this way with a fresh pair of eyes without Joi,,,well, my first thoughts after watching this edit was "could we do another edit without Niander Wallace too?"

All I can say is that the Joi character was probably not needed as the plot goes along fine without her and thank goodness the film is shorter! Whatever there is left of the plot is pretty much the barebones from what I can remember from the two viewings I saw. I slightly disagree with another reviewer about K's motivations. I think the mystery behind the "replicant birth" (oh dear!) is probably enough to send him over the edge, especially when he's directed to erase all his memories about such a massive historical moment for him. Of course he's going to rebel! And K just gets sucked into the mystery of existence itself and that works for me.

Any cuts made I didn't notice. Visuals and audio are all superb. I had to rate 'enjoyment' slightly lower as I cannot pretend to have done a complete 180° and become a massive fan. Removing the Joi character alone cannot save it and I'm not sure what else can be done, but on the editing itself, it's an improvement on "2049" nonetheless.

Positives: The pace of the film is significantly improved. The run-time has been reduced to 1hr 52mins (excluding credits). Events happen much more quickly, and the exclusion of Joi from the plot is barely even noticable. I only noticed 2 or so cuts the entire film, meaning the A/V cuts were very well done. The plot still works very well, no major narrative issues.

Negatives: The film still suffers a bit from the long, drawn out scenes that the original BR2049 had. Perhaps a couple more scenes could have been cut/shortened. K's motivations are a bit less clear now that he does not believe himself to be Deckard's son.

Overall: If you don't feel like sitting through the original run-time of almost 3 hours, or if you're not a fan of the Joi character, I'd recommend this version. I still enjoy the original version, and (mostly) liked the Joi character, but this is a great alternate way of viewing the film, and is a good demonstration that the fundamental plot still works with a major character removed.
RECOMMENDED.